From the archives: Veteran comic Tim Wilson travels many paths looking for new ideas

Comedian Tim Wilson, a frequent visitor to the Bob & Tom Show, died Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2014. Here is David Lindquist's story about Wilson that was published Jan. 19, 2012.

After making 14 comedy albums, Tim Wilson isn't looking to reinvent the wheel on No. 15.

But a new path for the wheel to travel would be nice.

"I've written about 150 comedy songs," Wilson said during a phone interview. "Coming up with a new topic is hard. I've already kind of covered the topics."

Georgia native Wilson has been far from predictable, though, when crafting funny tunes based on music, nostalgia, religion and football.

"Acid Country" -- from his 1994 debut album "Waking Up the Neighborhood" -- recounts Wilson's musical upbringing, in which his mother gave equal billing to Nashville twang and counterculture rock: "We'd watch Porter (Wagoner) and Dolly (Parton), then throw on the Grateful Dead."

MORE: Tim Wilson, 52, mined humor in music, nostalgia and sports.

"Jetpack," which appeared on 2009's "Mr. Wilson Explains America," expresses dismay that a future depicted during Wilson's youth has yet to arrive: "The gasoline engine would be a thing of the past; we'd get our own little rockets that would fly real fast."

Wilson's "First Baptist Bar & Grill" and "Church League Softball Fistfight," two popular selections on radio's "Bob & Tom Show," find humor in holy contradictions.

And the comedian's affection for college football is heard in the lyrics of "Ricky Tidwell's Mama": "She had Bear Bryant tattooed on her forearm . . . and ran the 40 in 4.3."

Wilson, who's working on his next album in Nashville, Tenn., said he'd like to write a song about Tim Tebow -- the quarterback who won two national titles at the University of Florida before this year's headline-making season with the NFL's Denver Broncos.

Tebow frequently talks about his Christian faith, a polarizing topic for the general public. His unconventional throwing motion, meanwhile, is a favorite target for football analysts.

"I don't know what to say about Tim Tebow other than he's a good person," Wilson said. "You work your whole life to try to make good grades and do what you're supposed to do. And when you win, they get mad at you -- because you can't throw the same way everybody else does. And I always enjoy hearing Christians cuss out Tim Tebow. That's what happens when you pray in a really outwardly way."

Wilson, scheduled to perform Jan. 20 at the Egyptian Room in Old National Centre, spent the first weeks of 2012 renovating a food truck for his brother and nephew to sell chicken-fried steak sandwiches and hot dogs in Nashville.

Side projects are part the creative process for Wilson, who's built an addition to a house and made a non-comedy album with Levon Helm and Gregg Allman during his career.

"If I sit around typing and trying to be funny all the time, it doesn't really work for me," he said. "If I go out and sort of live and do other things, it frees me up to be a comedian without thinking about it."

Ranking as the biggest and most controversial side project is the book "Happy New Year -- Ted," which Wilson co-wrote with Roger Keiss and published in 2009.

The book presents a theory that Ted Bundy committed four murders in Georgia, crimes previously not linked to the serial killer who was executed in 1989.

Wilson wants to add 100 pages to a new edition of the book, and the comedian uses his touring schedule to help with research. When playing late-night shows in Atlanta; Columbus, Ga.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Tallahassee, Fla., Wilson spends his days researching Bundy in local libraries.

"Happy New Year -- Ted" outsells CDs and T-shirts at stand-up performances, Wilson said.

"I have the greatest detective story of all time," he said. "It takes five hours to tell, so I need to find a way to condense it to two or three (for a documentary film)."

If law enforcement missed a connection between Bundy and Georgia's "Stocking Strangler," Wilson said detectives of the past needed today's forensic science and online archives.

"Anybody who was a police officer in the 1970s didn't have the tools to do the job," Wilson said. "It's insane and embarrassing when you check into these things."

Call Star reporter David Lindquist at (317) 444-6404.